21ST CENTURY PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENTS

A NEW WAY TO MAKE CHANGE HAPPEN

1. 100 WORD SUMMARYWar and violence are now solutions of choice. Justice is not blind. The

environment is under assault. Inequality is growing. A commitment to the common good and to future generations is disappearing. Millions of people are fearful, stressed, angry, hostile to government, looking for scapegoats, and hostile to progressive ideas.

It is time for progressives to change. Twentieth century strategies no longer work. It is time to create places where people can live progressively. It is time to transform urban neighborhoods and rural communities.

The organizations involved in the Pine Ridge Partnership in Topeka, Kansas are making this happen.

2. THE PAST

The challenges facing progressive movements and organizations are growing. Despite decades of sustained effort by people active in peace, justice, environmental, and anti-poverty movements and organizations war is the solution of choice for foreign disputes, and violence is the solution of choice for domestic ones. Justice is not blind. Serious and growing environmental problems are not being addressed. Millions of low income households cannot meet their basic needs at a time when the social safety net is shrinking. Millions of middle income Americans are losing ground, and realize that their children will not do as well financially as they have. Increasing numbers of low and middle income people believe the system is rigged against them and that what is going on is deeply unfair. These people are fearful, stressed, frustrated, angry, unwell, hostile to government, and looking for someone to blame.

Progressives are also stressed and frustrated. Despite their efforts the situation is getting worse, not better in a number of important ways. Historically, progressives have always been outnumbered. (Lawrence Kohlberg has suggested that only 10 to 15% of the US population consistently acts out of a deep commitment to human rights, justice, and equality.) Despite this numerical disadvantage progressives were able to accomplish a great deal in the 1950’s and 1960’s for three reasons. There was broad cause for optimism---average household income in the US went up every year from 1946 to 1974. Millions of citizens shared a commitment to the common good and supported progressive causes. Many people in positions of power did so as well. Today inequality is pressing down on middle and low income people. Fewer people in positions of power support progressive causes, and given the way political campaigns are now financed this is not likely to change soon.

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Movements and organizations are more likely to be successful when the people active in them have asked and answered three questions in sequence. “Why do we exist?” “What are our strategic objectives?” “Tactically, how are we going to meet these objectives? This is rarely done. Typically, all or some of these questions go unasked. When the three questions are asked, they are not always asked in order. When they are asked in order why, what, and how answers are offered interchangeably for any of the three questions.

Making the best possible sense of this confusion, for decades the why of progressive movements and organizations has been some version of addressing life expectancy and quality of life disparities. That is, progressives believe that it is not fair or right that people in some segments of the population are dying prematurely, and that some segments of the US population do not enjoy the rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” that others do. Their what has been opposing war, injustice, environmental degradation, and inequality. Their how has been to plan, carry out, and evaluate initiatives, events, and activities designed to create activists, reform existing systems, and to help individuals and families realize their hopes and dreams.

In recent years social movements and organizations have emerged on the right that have a different why---a why of ignoring or justifying that some people are dying prematurely, and that others do not deserve to enjoy the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Their what is adding to the power, privilege, status, and sense of self-worth of movement participants and supporters by depriving other people of power, privilege, status, and a sense of self-worth. Their how is to plan initiatives, events, activities, and programs that fuel the hostility of people who are stressed, frustrated, and angry by extolling American Exceptionalism and offering up LGBT people, people of color, women, governments, immigrants, university professors, terrorists, and others as enemies.

There is no way to reconcile the objectives of progressive movements and organizations with these new movements and organizations. Facts are no help. Facts are irrelevant to people who are angry, stressed, afraid, hostile to government, unconcerned with the common good, and suspicious of anyone they view as being different. Only beliefs matter to them, and beliefs cannot be challenged or even discussed objectively. There is no chance of meeting in the middle because there is no middle. To be successful progressives must find a way to involve the millions of disaffected Americans in progressive causes. This will require a new model.

3. A NEW, PROGRESSIVE, HOW

The progressive why is not going to change nor should it. A principled commitment to peace, justice, protecting the environmental, and equality is what makes progressives progressive. Similarly, the progressive what is not going to change nor should it. It is more important now than ever before to oppose war and violence, injustice, practices that damage the environment, and inequality.

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In contrast, there is a growing sense in the progressive community that the how that has been a feature of progressive efforts for decades is not well suited to the growing economic and political inequality of the 21st century. Efforts to obtain concessions from a power structure that increasingly benefits wealthy people and is largely unconcerned with the common good succeed less often, and when concessions are made they are rarely significant. Efforts to develop urban neighborhoods and rural communities are rarely successful because laws, regulations and both public and private policies and practices encourage disinvestment there. Efforts to improve the economic status of individuals and families are of limited benefit in a global economy where capital seeks the highest possible return on investment. Planning does not and will not produce the results progressives seek because it involves rearranging the present, not creating a future. Disconnected, go-it-alone progressive movements, initiatives, and programs have not worked well in the past and there is no reason to assume this will change going forward.

R. Buckminster Fuller has suggested a way forward; a way to create a new, progressive how.

“You can never change things by fighting the existing reality. To changesomething, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

R. Buckminster Fuller

To be different enough and powerful enough to make “the existing model obsolete” the new progressive how must serve five ends. It must defuse the stress, fear, and anger that millions of people are feeling. It must encourage a broad and growing commitment to the common good now and for the future. It must welcome and make effective use of urban neighborhood and rural community residents, and the groups and organizations that work there. It must create a new culture based on caring, sharing, and wellness. It must be designed in a way that every urban neighborhood and rural community can use them successfully.

A new how of transforming urban neighborhoods and rural communities would serve all five of these ends. It is time to create places where people can live progressively. People are much more likely to oppose war and violence, injustice, practices that damage the environment, and inequality if they can see and experience the benefits of peace, justice, protecting the environmental, and equality. At the same time, transformed neighborhoods and communities can provide a safe haven, incubator, and export base for progressive ideas and initiatives. The high quality of life in these neighborhoods and communities will answer the “what is in progressive ideas for me” question in a way that will attract an ever growing number of people to progressive movements and causes.

A multi-step change blueprint that can be used to drive and shape the transformation of urban neighborhoods and rural communities is an essential element of this new, progressive, how.

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Currently, few progressives see neighborhood and community transformation as an element in a model that is different, better, and powerful enough to make the existing model obsolete. Those that do not have three options. They can continue using a how that is not working. They can adopt the how of transforming urban neighborhoods and rural communities. Or, they can pursue an alternative how of their design. There must be more than one new how that will make the existing model obsolete; it is likely that there are a number of them. Any effort to identify additional options in this regard would be very beneficial.

4. CREATING A PROGRESSIVE FUTURE

If progressives want to create a progressive future with a how of using a change blueprint to drive and shape urban neighborhood and rural community transformation where would they start?

The work involved has three phases. In the Pine Ridge Partnership example described below, the three phases were carried out sequentially. This was not a matter of choice. The people involved knew what the three phases were or what was involved in working through them. Had they, it would have been possible to overlap and compress the phases a great deal.

Phase 1 is finding a lead organization with extensive involvement in a neighborhood or community that is willing and capable of making the transformation from wherever the organization finds itself to one that does the right thing right, the first time, every time. This is easy to say, and not so easy to do. The benefit of this approach is that it plays out in the smallest, most controlled change environment possible. If this organization has been poorly run for years so much the better---so long as a new board and management team is free to do what needs to be done to make this transformation happen.

The potential benefits to this organization are obvious---greater efficiency and effectiveness, lower operating costs, a stable workforce, increased funding, less time spent resolving complaints of all kinds, and greater community support. The benefits to the neighborhood or community are less obvious, but more significant. The experiences that low and moderate income people have with “the system” range from barely satisfying to bad. Assurances of concern coming from “the system” mean nothing to neighborhood residents who have been treated shabbily many times by many agencies and organizations. Residents need to experience an organization repeatedly interacting with neighborhood residents in positive ways, acting fairly and transparently, and treating residents with dignity and respect. In time, an organization that changes its culture to do this will find that the culture of the neighborhood it serves changes as well.

Phase 2 is to create a multi-faceted partnership that can begin to change the culture of the partners involved. All of the partners do not need to transform themselves to the point that they are doing the right thing right, the first time, every time---there are

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reasons why this is too much to ask or expect---but they do need to get in the habit of saying yes, and they need to work systematically to eliminate the dozens of barriers between their organizations and the people they serve. Every organization can develop the capacity to do both.

Phase 3 is to create and use a 21st century change blueprint. The Pine Ridge Partnership in Topeka, Kansas has used and refined a change blueprint over the past six years. Currently, it has the following nine steps.

Change BlueprintStep 1 Decide to changeStep 2 Prepare for and do Big Picture ThinkingStep 3 Adopt a Change BlueprintStep 4 Build a Change MechanismStep 5 Get clear on “A”---On where you are and how you got thereStep 6 Get clear on “B”---On where you are going Step 7 Build capacityStep 8 Set out on the journeyStep 9 Check the score, make refinements, repeat Steps 1-9

At some point the number of neighborhoods and communities using this or a similar change blueprint will reach a tipping point---the point at which these change initiatives begin to drive and accelerate efforts to oppose war, injustice, environmental degradation, and inequality. People are so frustrated with the status quo and so interested in finding alternatives that this number may be relatively low.

In the end, it does not matter where the tipping point is. What matters is getting started on the journey toward it.

5. THE TOPEKA HOUSING AUTHORITY---A PHASE 1 EXAMPLE

In January of 1999 the Topeka Housing Authority (THA) was out of money and operating under federal court order. Pine Ridge Manor, THA’s largest Public Housing complex, was a dangerous place, and THA’s main office a half mile away was not much safer. THA staff members were demoralized and poorly led.

A new management team walked into THA on February 10, 1999. This team did not understood the need for and was not engaged in creating a new model. After decades of mismanagement and incompetence the team was simply trying to get every THA staff member to do the right thing right, the first time, every time, an element of which was treating each other, applicants, and program participants with dignity and respect. The “right thing” has changed over time. It started as a commitment to fully utilize the resources available to THA. It moved to mobilizing additional resources in order to provide affordable housing to more families. Currently, it is a commitment to make THA housing the first housing choice for low and moderate income people, not

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the last. THA’s commitment to things done “…right, the first time, every time”---to error free program delivery---has not changed.

The first action the new management team took was to remove the “Reserved for Executive Director” sign in front of the parking spot closest to the front door. The second was to ask staff members to go out and move their cars to the row in the parking lot farthest from the building leaving the spaces closest to the building for applicants and program participants. What happened in the months and years after that surprised the management team, staff, and everyone else, inside and outside THA.

Some staff members got the right thing right, the first time, every time message immediately. When a clerical person produced a document that first week that included a number of typos a member of the management team read it, handed it back, and said, “Please correct the mistakes in this, and bring it back. Going forward don’t produce anything that includes mistakes.” The response was “Oh, OK, I can do that” and this person immediately moved her performance to this new level. Others took longer but they did as well. A few staff needed to find employment in settings better suited to their needs and interests.

In a few months the culture of THA began to change, and over the next few years the community’s attitude toward THA began to change as well. THA serves very low income households---the average household has an annual income of less than $10,000. Even given the stress people in these households feel and the many problems they face, they began saying good things about THA. When THA staff wore shirts out in the community with THA’s logo on them people complimented them. Staff began to urge friends and family members to apply for jobs at THA, and people began to drop by to ask about working at THA. It was not uncommon for community leaders to stop THA Board members and employees at meetings and events and say some version of “I don’t know what you all are doing over there, but obviously it is working.”

By mid-2000 annual operating costs were down 41% from early 1999. The number of families that THA housed increased from 950 at the end of 1998 to 1,540 in 2001 to 2,012 in 2007.

Eight years and thousands of the right things done right later, it was clear that transforming the culture of THA was important and helpful, but that this was only the first of three phases involved in realizing THA’s vision of providing affordable housing to everyone in Topeka who needed it. Phase 2 was to transform the organizations that work in the neighborhoods that include THA complexes. Phase 3 was to transform the low and moderate income neighborhoods where THA provides housing.

6. THE PINE RIDGE PARTNERSHIP---A PHASE 2 EXAMPLE

It did not happen in every organization, but in 2009 a “what we are doing is not working and is not going to work” lightbulb started going on for advocates in Topeka,

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Kansas. That is, they came to a shared sense that 20th Century peace, justice, environment, and anti-poverty initiatives were not going to work in the 21st Century.

In 2010, staff of the Topeka Housing Authority (THA), the United Way of Greater Topeka, and Topeka Public Schools created the Pine Ridge Partnership, and began to seek the additional partners and resources needed to transform Pine Ridge. This Partnership has evolved over time, and is still evolving. Partners use it to develop, test, evaluate, and refine cutting edge ideas, approaches, and strategies.

By 2013 dozens of large peace, justice, environmental, and anti-poverty initiatives, programs, and events were underway at Pine Ridge, involving “a cast of thousands” made up of board members, volunteers from across the community, neighborhood residents, and staff. Residents were doing the recruitment for these programs and projects. For the first time in decades families decorated their units on holidays, and on Halloween kids went trick or treating in the complex. In a survey done in September of 2015 the two words residents most often used to describe Pine Ridge were “safe” and “quiet.” No one would have characterized Pine Ridge this way five years earlier.

The programs and initiatives of the Pine Ridge Partnership, and the year they began are as follows.

2010---Community gardens, community policing, holiday events, Parents as Teachers for 0-2 year olds, job search assistance, speakers, workshops, events, summer and after school programs for 5-14 year olds, introduction to computers classes,

2011---Neighborhood clean-ups, on-site health screening for kids, half day preschool for 4 year olds, mentoring program for pre-school children, book and toy lending library,

2012---Children’s book give-away,

2013---E3 Aquaponics facility “staffed” by teens, born learning trail, toxic stress and ACEs initiatives, full day preschool for 4 year old, summer school for 4 year olds, 24/7 mini-library, Bookmobile visits,

2014---Sustainable Communities Career Center, park with splash pad, full day preschool for 3 year olds, new shelters for bus riders

2015---Computer health care access and training, new bus routes and bus stop shelters

2016---Family Wellness (medical, mental health, vision, dental) Center, Youth/Police Pathfinders Academy, THA/Public Library Training Center, construction trades training program

7. INSIGHTS AND LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

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In 2010 no one involved in the newly formed Pine Ridge Partnership knew how to transform a low income neighborhood, the organizations that worked in it, or the people who lived there. This made the people involved in the Partnership even more determined to set out on this journey.

To produce a transformation that no one has seen before requires hundreds of insights and learning opportunities and the will and good humor to separate the ideas and learning that help move the transformation forward from those that do not. Some insights and learning opportunities from the Pine Ridge Partnership follow organized by the nine steps of the Partnership’s Change Blueprint. These are not “answers.” They only illustrate the sort of journey a transformation effort involves.

Step 1 Decide to ChangeAn Insight---

E. M. Rogers’ Theory of Diffusion of Innovations is a helpful way of thinking about change. He divides the population into innovators (2.5%), early adopters (13.5%), early majority (34.0%), late majority (34.0%), and laggards (16.0%). The people Rogers calls innovators are always open to change. They are not locked into existing ways and patterns of thinking. These people do not have trouble thinking outside the box because for them there is no box. Early adopters are not innovators, but they are open to change and quick to take up innovations. People in the early majority take more time than early adopters, but they are open to change and willing to use innovations. It takes late majority people a while to get there, but eventually they accept change and innovations. Laggards may never accept change.

Every change effort needs innovators and early adopters. It also needs a sponsor, a champion, mini-champions, workers, and technical experts. In a successful change effort most or all of the people playing the five change roles will also need to be innovators or early adopters

Step 2 Prepare for and do Big Picture ThinkingNo effort to build a model that makes the old model obsolete can succeed

without dozens of people doing Big Picture Thinking about six topics: Change; Time; Systems; Stress, Wellness, and Creativity.

An Insight---The easiest and fastest way to introduce people to the insight that Big Picture

Thinking is bigger than they assume is to watch George Monbiot’s 4.5 minute “How Wolves Change Rivers” video.

http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/how-wolves-change-rivers/#.Uv-6bfojUYR.facebook

This video does not provide the answers to questions about what a new model might look like or how to put one in place, but it does make clear that change efforts fail because the people engaged in them ask questions that are too small.

An Insight---

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The people involved in creating a future must gain control of Time---of the past, present, and future.

“The past is never dead. It is not even past.”William Faulkner, “Requiem for a Nun”

“Who controls the present controls the past.”“Who controls the past controls the future.”

George Orwell, “1984”

A Learning Opportunity---A group of any size can use this fill-in-the-blank sentence to explore the

relationship between past, present, and future.

Christopher Columbus ______________ America in 1492.

Put this sentence on a flip chart at the front of the room. Hand each person a sticky note, and ask them to write one word on it that will fill in the blank. Have them walk up and put their sticky note on the blank on the flip chart.

Most sticky notes will have the word “discovered.” Small groups can use the Internet to find answers to the following questions.

The islands Columbus reached in 1492 are now known as the Bahamas, Cuba, and Hispaniola. Were there people living on these islands in 1492? If so, how many? How long had they been there? Did Columbus see and meet with them? What happened?

Were there people living on the continent of North America in 1492? If so, how many, and how long had they and their ancestors been there?

If people had lived in America for thousands of years before he arrived, why do people use the word “discover” to describe what Columbus did in 1492?

What impact has this version of the past had on people living in the Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola, and on the continent of North America? What impact is it having now? What impact will it have in the future?

A Learning Opportunity--- The following story illustrates how a local economy can be shaped by residents

for their benefit. One effective way to use this story is to have neighborhood residents perform it for others.

The $100 Deposit that Was ReturnedA family planned a picnic to honor its oldest member who would soon turn 100. One member contacted a neighbor who was a baker. This baker agreed to bake cakes,

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pies, and cookies for the event which was a month away, but asked for a $100 deposit to cover the cost of the food. The family member gave her a $100 bill. The baker used this $100 bill to pay a neighbor to install brake pads on her car. The driveway mechanic used the $100 bill to pay a neighbor for fruit and honey for a coming out party for his daughter. The gardener and beekeeper used the $100 bill to pay a neighbor to braid her hair and her daughter’s hair. The hair braider gave her neighbors, the cake baker and her husband, the $100 bill to remove a large tree branch that had fallen on her roof.

When the 100 year old family member died unexpectedly, the person who had contacted the baker asked for the $100 deposit back. The baker said: “Sure. I am so sorry to hear about your grandmother. I am just glad I have the $100. I didn’t until yesterday when my husband and I got paid for doing some work for Mrs. Jones down the street.

How many people made how much money as a result of a $100 deposit that was returned? What products and services are available now in this neighborhood? What additional products and services could be available a year from now? Who wants to work on expanding our neighborhood economy?

Step 3 Adopt a Change BlueprintAn Insight---

The form a change blueprint takes is not important. What is important is that it mirrors the Pine Ridge Partnership Change Blueprint in that it includes both change elements (Steps 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7, and the last part of 9) and planning elements (Steps 5, 6, 8, and the first part of 9). Whatever form a change blueprint takes, the people using it should assume that every step involves learning, and that all of the steps must be repeated multiple times. Using a change blueprint is a journey, not a destination.

Step 4 Build a Change MechanismInsights---

Change mechanisms that produce dynamic results have many or most of the following characteristics. They feature Big Picture Thinking. The people involved share an unshakeable conviction that a new model is needed. A wide range of partners---businesses, non-profits, and public entities---fund and participate in the work being done. These mechanism have an identity independent of any of the partners. They operate with no hierarchy and few rules. The roles people play change easily and often. It does not matter who comes up with the ideas that drive the change mechanism---the best ideas win. It does not matter who makes decisions so long as these ideas and decisions contribute to the transformation effort. They feature intense, sustained learning and idea sharing.

There are ten indicators of the quality of change mechanisms: the excitement they generate; support from across the community; the number of innovators and early adopters they attract; the number of innovations they produce; a social media presence larger than the community; the support of the full range of local decision makers; organizations and people contributing resources without being asked; passionate,

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enthusiastic advocates; an ever expanding number of partners; and, an ever expanding number of people and organizations that deserve and are given credit for transformation accomplishments.

Step 5 Get clear on “A”---On where you are and how you got thereA Learning Opportunity---

A group of people who are working to transform an urban neighborhood or rural community can divide into teams that take 15-20 minutes to use the Internet to produce data relating to peace, justice, environmental and anti-poverty trends.

For example, the team assigned to explore anti-poverty trends may want to explore data relating inequality, the rate at which the middle class is shrinking, the rate at which the poverty population is growing, and the percent of campaign contributions made by very wealthy people, the role citizens play in federal decision making. The impact of the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision has had on campaign financing is also worth exploring.

Each team can then lead a discussion of the 8 to 10 data elements they have selected for sharing. Useful discussion questions might include the following.

What numbers surprised you? Why? How often do the Mainstream Media use numbers like this in their reporting? To what extent are numbers like this used as the basis for political discussions and decisions?

Step 6 Get clear on “B”---On where you are goingAn Insight---

For decades now peace, justice, environmental, and anti-poverty movement and initiatives have focused on the “hopes and dreams” of individuals and families---making a living; having a decent place to live; learning and self-expression; having something to do; and, good health.

The focus of peace, justice, environmental, and anti-poverty movement and initiatives needs to shift to the “shared expectations” of neighbors and community members. In a transformed urban neighborhood or rural community residents some or even much of every household’s basic resources come from and through the neighborhood or community. Residents have and share a sense well-being. They treat each other fairly. They promote peace. They live sustainably.

Step 7 Build capacityAn Insight---

Capacity building for transformation efforts should focus on the hundreds of barriers to program and project success embedded in the systems of every organization that works in neighborhoods and rural communities. These barriers never shrink on their own; they only grow larger. It takes Big Picture Thinking and a deep concern and respect for area residents to identify and eliminate them. A bit of thought is enough to

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identify some barriers. Others can be identified only through careful observation. An example of each from the Pine Ridge Prep Pre-School follows.

“Fever” Handouts---Schools have good reason to send home “what to do if your child has a fever” notices. It only takes a little thought to arrive at the conclusion that the way this is done creates a barrier between schools and parents. Typically, “fever” notices are written and distributed by people who read at a 10th grade level or higher and own thermometers. Many of the parents who get these notices read at a 4 th grade level or lower and do not own thermometers. What happened at Pine Ridge Prep when “fever” notices were distributed is exactly what could have been anticipated.

A Pine Ridge Prep Pre-School student who had not been absent before “fever” materials were distributed was absent immediately afterward. It did not take the staff member who visited this home long to confirm that the mother had kept the child out of school because she did not have a thermometer, did not know if her child had a fever, and did not want to jeopardize her child’s place at Pine Ridge Prep if she did. That afternoon Pine Ridge Prep staff sent a thermometer home with every child, and every home visit after that included discussions about the “fever” policy and the use of these thermometers.

Volunteer Sign-In Sheet---The Topeka Public Schools, the United Way of Greater Topeka, and Pine Ridge Prep Pre-School have good reasons to track volunteer involvement. One tool they use is a sign in sheet for volunteers just inside the front door at Pine Ridge Prep. After watching a parent bring his daughter to school and pick her up every day for two weeks without moving past the sign-in sheet and into the building the Site Director gently took him aside. After some careful exploring she learned that he did not move past the sign-in sheet because could not write his name. She arranged two practice sessions for him in her office, and the sign-in sheet ceased to be a barrier to his participation. He became an active parent volunteer.

An Insight---National, state, and local level peace, justice, environmental, and anti-poverty

groups and organizations have an essential role to play in encouraging and supporting urban neighborhood and rural community transformations. In addition to their on-going programs and initiatives these organizations can create multi-faceted transformation partnerships that play four roles. These partnerships can advocate for changes in laws, regulations, policies, and practices that free up space for and direct resources toward local level transformation efforts. They can provide training, technical assistance, and support information sharing between local transformation efforts. They can design and carry out transformation related research and demonstration projects. They can design and operate specialized, single purpose transformation related programs and projects.

Step 8 Set out on the journeyAn Insight---

The time is right. The efforts of the Pine Ridge Partnership gained momentum so quickly that it surprised everyone involved, and support for the Partnership continues to

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grow inside and outside the Pine Ridge neighborhood. Currently, there are more than 100 public, non-profit, and private agencies, organizations, and businesses contributing to Partnership initiatives, and more than 1,000 people volunteer in Partnership programs annually. Most Partnership programs and projects simply happened through a process best characterized as orchestrated spontaneity. It is reasonable to assume that other neighborhood transformation efforts will have the same experience.

The willingness of the people involved in the Pine Ridge Partnership to share their conviction that the old model was not working and would not work, and that they were about the task of building a new model---a model no one had seen or could describe in any detail---had a great deal to do with the growth of the Partnership. This turned out to be a form of “the emperor has no clothes” statement. No one wanted to be the first to say that dozens of programs across the community were not working well or at all, but once someone did, it turned out that most people agreed.

Step 9 Check the score, make refinements, repeat Steps 1-9An Insight---

The Pine Ridge Partnership scorekeeping system has confirmation and transformation elements. The Partnership uses data to confirm that it is on schedule in making progress from A to B. It uses stories to track the transformation of the neighborhood and the organizations that work there. Of the two, stories are easily the most useful and powerful.

Early on, the people working to transform the Pine Ridge neighborhood found that an easy and effective way to share successes and failures was to tell stories, some humorous and some not, about their experiences. Without their intending this or even knowing it was happening these stories began to flow out into the community. To the surprise of the people working at Pine Ridge, unsolicited offers of help began to flow back into the Pine Ridge neighborhood.

During a fund raising presentation a United Way staff member shared the story about kids trick or treating at Pine Ridge for the first time in more than thirty years. At the end of her presentation a member of the audience stood up and said that he had lived in Pine Ridge years earlier and that if he and his friends had done that “we’d have been shot.” Both stories floated out into the community, and that October without being asked, a civic club and local businesses arranged a gala Halloween party at Pine Ridge for all the kids in the neighborhood.

The first year Pine Ridge Prep offered a summer program it was funded, designed, and implemented in a matter of a few days. Most of the applicants for the newly opened positions were existing Pine Ridge Prep staff. During the job interviews one of the Pine Ridge Prep staff members was asked “why do you want to work here this summer?” She said nothing for several moments, then tears began to stream down her face. After she composed herself she said: “These children have nothing.” She was right; she was hired; and, she is still there.

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And then there is the story of the “meatloaf” lady. After participating in a half-day culture change training event this resident approached a Topeka Housing Authority staff member and said that she wanted to talk about the meal served at a similar THA training session held at a local hotel four years earlier. “That was the worst meatloaf I have every eaten. I still don’t understand why you had them serve that.”

A civic club and local businesses put on a gala party for kids in the Pine Ridge neighborhood without being asked. A person is so committed to the children at Pine Ridge Prep that tears stream down her face just thinking about them. Another person has spent the last four years is taking a meatloaf dish at lunch personally. They are all good stories.

PART 8: TRANSFORMING RURAL COMMUNITIES

The trends in rural America are discouraging. The rural population is shrinking. On-farm income is down as is on-farm employment. Urban income is greater that high density rural income which, in turn, is greater than low density rural income, and the disparity between the three is growing. Educational levels in rural areas are falling behind those of urban areas. The cost of health care is higher and access to doctors and health services is lower in rural areas, and both are contributing to higher rural mortality rates.

At the same time, there is much about rural America that makes transforming rural communities a realistic possibility. There is a shared sense of the common good. Residents have and share a sense well-being. They treat each other fairly. They promote peace. They live sustainably

Most of the insights and learning opportunities in Part 7 relating to transforming urban neighborhoods can be used successfully in the same or altered form in transforming a rural community. What follows are ideas that relate directly to rural communities.

In rural community transformation efforts the long accepted roles of the private, non-profit, and public sector must change. In most instances transformation initiatives will be carried out by two or three of these sectors working in partnership in new ways. Here is an example of these changing roles from a small Midwestern town.

A Local Cafe as a Successful Private Business---The local cafe in the small town was never hugely profitable, but for decades it was a successful venture that produced a fair living for its owners and created part-time employment for local residents. During this time the local bank provided financing for a series of owners.

The Local Cafe As Subsidized by Local “Investors”---After years of declining revenues and rising expenses the cafe had reached the point of producing an income for its owners that was roughly $10,000 short of being a fair return on their investment.

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The local banker approached 50 local residents and asked them to invest $200 annually in the venture guaranteeing them they would lose their money. The alternative was an 18 mile round trip to buy a cup of coffee. This annual infusion of cash worked for a while, but the subsidy needed grew to an unsustainable level.

The Local Cafe As a Civic Club Activity---The local banker arranged to have the cafe donated to a local civic club on the condition that the club would be open from 6 to 10 every morning to serve breakfast. Town residents still had a place to meet and talk. With an all-volunteer staff the cafe generates enough revenue to cover expenses and contributions to a reserve fund, and to support the club’s community improvement projects. The club has a new, better place to meet, and its membership is growing.

The following two ideas illustrate how far rural communities will need to push the evolution of private, non-profit, and public sector roles.

Grocery Store---Assuming that a way can be found to use State home rule legislation for this purpose, a small town that no longer has a grocery store could open one, hire local people to staff it, buy and sell food grown locally to the extent possible, and “give away” groceries to locals. The groceries would not be free. The town would levy a fee or tax on each family that shopped there equal to the amount of groceries the family receives. This arrangement would build community spirit, create local jobs, and have both sales and income tax advantages for local residents.

Expanded Library Services---There is no limit to what a local library could make available for check out to local residents. In addition to checking out books, CDs, etc. a library could check out boats, cars, trucks, lawnmowers, snow blowers, health care equipment, camping trailers and equipment, etc. The town could charge fees or a special assessment that would cover costs associated with offering these items for check out. Borrowers could make a tax free donation to the library in a suggested amount to cover these costs.

PART 9. CONCLUSION

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

Going forward, there are many reasons to suspect that the “Rights” of the bottom 99% of the U.S. population to “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” will contract over the next generation rather than expand. Residents of urban neighborhoods and rural communities who cannot get to “yes” in terms of making a transformation decision may want to explore this option in more detail.

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A learning opportunity may help here. Participants in a group discussion could divide into small groups and spend some time on the Internet finding and then sharing “The Numbers Today” and “Predictions” questions and answers. Some examples of both types of questions with the answers filled in follow. (Note: participants may find more than one answer. That is OK. Use them all.) Participants should feel free to add questions and answers of their own.

“The Numbers Today”A. What percent of all 2016 campaign contributions to date have been made by the

wealthiest one-tenth of one percent of US residents? 40%B. What is the cost of repairing or replacing all substandard infrastructure in the

U.S.? $3.6 trillionC. How many public water systems are there in the U.S.? 155,000

What percent have problems similar to those in Flint, Michigan? 10%D. What proportion of U.S. households have no retirement account? Half

U.S. Rank Among 21 “Affluent” Nations(1 = Best; 21 = Worst)

A. Economic equality 21B. Gender equality 21C. Infant Mortality 21D. Reduction in per capita carbon dioxide emissions 21

in past ten yearsE. Paid and unpaid maternity leave 21F. Student performance in math 17G. Material well-being of children 19

“Predictions”A. In what year will the amount of plastic trash in the world’s oceans weigh more

than the fish there? 2050B. What percent of the Ogallala Aquifer that underlies eight Midwestern states will

be depleted by 2060? 69%C. How long will it take the Ogallala Aquifer to recharge? 6,000 yearsD. At the current rate of loss, when will the world’s topsoil be gone? 2076

Will your transformation efforts succeed? Sure. Why not? The neighborhood transformation effort at Pine Ridge was not notable for what the people involved knew when they started. They knew less about making change happen than anyone who reads this paper will know. It was notable for their willingness to learn, their never doubting they would succeed, and their willingness to keep moving forward. There is nothing special about these three traits. Every urban neighborhood and rural community has lots of people who have them.

Getting started is the hardest part. After that, a transformation effort will take off its own. It is an exciting ride.

16July 21, 2016